Thanks CovKid - is it bad if I say "I'm glad it's not just me"?
I've had my carb in bits since last week and am waiting for another part to arrive (choke pull-down doing nothing) before completing and putting the carb back on. Don't recall the float needle being tricky to remove or otherwise stuck/tight, but then I'm not sure I'd have noticed if it was "a little bit stuck" once I removed the float and tugged on it.
I've since refitted the float and float-needle, and I ended up re-using my existing needle. I found the one in the Brickwerks kit fit just fine, but it wasn't holding the float high enough to pass the 26.5mm-28.5mm @ 30degree height test. I then gave the brickwerks needle a prod and the spring was pretty loosey-goosey. My original was in good condition on the sealing end, and held the float at the right height/tension.
I'm hoping I don't end up buried in alternator and timing land, as I'm saturated with 1.9DG learning at the moment, and need the van to be running in two weeks for a trip! (though I will check the alternator vacuum unit to see that that's doing its job). I'll also be replacing all vac hoses with new, as mine all look somewhat kinked and tired where they join the the various vacuum posts; so about time they had a freshen up anyway.
Either way, it'd be a swell day in Me-Land if everything magically works when I bolt it back on!
Thanks for the pointer chap.